Dana White: $5 Million Most UFC Star Made for Single Fight

Boxing superstar Floyd “Money” Mayweather is set to score a guaranteed $41.5 million just to step inside the ring this Saturday to fight Canelo Alvarez.

Do you wanna know how much the most the UFC has paid one of their athletes for a single fight? A fan asked UFC president Dana White that very question during Thursday’s Google+ Hangout, and let’s just say, Mayweather wouldn’t get out of bed for $5 million.

“We paid a guy $5 million for a fight before, [but] we didn’t start making money until 2007,” White revealed. “That was six years ago. So, boxing’s been around for a 100 years, they’ve been doing big events since way back when.

“[It’s] pretty amazing what we have done in a short amount of time. I don’t think a lot of people look at it that way and break it down for what it really is.”

Because the UFC is a privately held company, they do not publicly disclose any financial numbers they aren’t required to. Obviously, White didn’t share which fighter received the UFC’s largest paycheck.

Most state athletic commissions disclose how much each fighter gets paid (to show and win bonus), but the UFC is notorious for dishing out top secret discretionary bonuses that can easily topple a fighter’s salary.

In addition, the UFC’s biggest draws earn a percentage of the pay-per-view buys for shows they compete in. The winner of the UFC’s $5 million lottery ticket likely came from here.

If that’s the case, my shortlist rounds out to Brock Lesnar (pictured), Georges St-Pierre or Anderson Silva. It may also be UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell, because he was instrumental in the company’s growth when things started to take off. Being BFFs with White doesn’t hurt, either.